点击查看原文：With Wemby a starter again, Spurs mix optimism with anxiety
With Wemby a starter again, Spurs mix optimism with anxiety
Columnist Mike Finger and beat writers Jeff McDonald and Tom Orsborn discuss the Spurs’ huge breakthroughs of December, the hiccups that accompanied Victor Wembanyama’s move back into the starting lineup, and the challenges of dealing with success.
Suggested reading:
How the Spurs hope to beg forgiveness from the basketball gods
Wemby: Spurs focused on rest of season after toppling Thunder
Spurs determined to protect Wembanyama during ‘long, grueling’ season
Here is the transcript of the podcast:
[music fades in]
Mike Finger: From a highly secured network of top secret locations across South Texas, this is the Spurs Insider, end of the year edition. I am Mike Finger, joined by our full Express News beat writing crew, the duo, the dynamic duo of Jeff McDonald and Tom Orsborn. And in podcasting much like in basketball, timing is everything. And if the dynamic duo and your humble host would have convened what, three days ago, we’d be recording a much different podcast than we’re recording on Tuesday morning. Three days ago, we would have been talking people down from booking their NBA Finals reservations. We’d be talking about working till June. Jeff McDonald would be apologizing for for calling two more momentous victories, uh, calling them unwinnable. And yet two days later, it’s about anxiety. It’s about angst.
Tom Orsborn: Are we booking, are we booking lottery, lottery, uh, planes now?
Mike Finger: Now we’re talking about booking another trip to the lottery in Chicago for Tom to to look forward to a different draft pick. The things have changed. But we need in a week like this, in a whirlwind, whirlwind of Spurs emotions, we need someone with perspective and intelligence and emotional depth to put it in perspective. And that’s why, since we don’t have one of those people, I turned to Jeff McDonald.
Jeff McDonald: Thank you for that momentous introduction. I got to say I was a little jealous of a lot of our contemporaries in Spurs podcast land. I don’t know how much you um, follow what what everyone else does, but like, uh, after the Spurs…
Mike Finger: Other people cover the Spurs? Oh yeah, you Other people, it’s I thought we’re the newspaper. This is 2025, the only outlet that matters is the newspaper. I mean what other, what other outlets could there be covering, covering an NBA team in 2025 other than the local news… This is the golden age, they say, of local newspapers. So I, you know, I’m unaware of any other podcasts or publications that cover this team. We are, we we are in our golden age, and I’ll let you go ahead, sorry.
Jeff McDonald: Well, you know, a lot of those people that are sitting in front of Mitch Johnson alongside of us, um, those people, also there’s people that just, uh, you know, have no affiliation with the team and just like to uh, talk into microphones. But anyway, a lot of Spurs podcasts out there after Christmas, they scrambled to do like emergency pods talking about the Spurs and…
Mike Finger: I’m unaware of that concept.
Jeff McDonald: Are they going to the Western Conference Finals? And they were drafting off the the wake of that the the um, emotional wins over the Thunder. And I was a little jealous that that we didn’t do that. Um, but now I’m not just because of um, had we done that, I would have said exactly what I’m about to say, and I would have felt like a total wet blanket. And now I get to say what I was going to say then, which is, everybody needs to tap their brakes. Like it’s great that they beat the Thunder. That was awesome. I get, I get that everybody was um, enthusiastic and optimistic about that. Definitely proves the Spurs can play with the best of the best in this league, which is which is nice. It’s a good thing. But it doesn’t mean they’re automatically ticketed to the Western Conference Finals. It doesn’t mean there won’t be growing pains. It doesn’t mean there won’t be hiccups along the way.
Jeff McDonald: And so they come back from from that that Christmas Day, uh, victory and they lose at home to Utah and they lose at home to Cleveland. And um, now I guess it looks like I’m I’m uh, saying, now I guess it looks like, you know, it’s easy for me to say now, but I would have said this, I would have said this on uh, the morning of December 26th had we convened. Like everybody needs to calm down a little bit in both directions.
Mike Finger: You did accurately, uh, note, I think for the public that the Utah Jazz showdown on Saturday night at Frost Banking Center had all the makings of a classic trap game. So I’ll give Jeff McDonald some credit.
Jeff McDonald: To be fair, I’ve been calling losses for like three weeks now. I was bound to, I was bound to hit one.
Mike Finger: You’re bound to be right. You mentioned tapping the brakes and I’ll I’ll tell you this as someone who has traveled much of these 50 United States and and and rode around in rental cars with, uh, this person. One person who is excellent at tapping the brakes is is the great Tom Orsborn and uh that’s how we transition into what, do you want to do any break tapping here, Tom for the for the public who are who are going crazy over the the finals bound Spurs just a few days ago?
Tom Orsborn: Well, again, as as I mentioned a couple years ago in Las Vegas when we rode together the last time, have you ever been in an accident with me? Even a fender bender. And the answer is no. But yet you persist with this ridiculing of my driving. I I don’t understand it.
Mike Finger: All I’ll say is you’re very safe. Tom is a very safe driver. That’s the best compliment I can give him. But how would you, are are you a safe beat writer? Are you a safe podcaster when it comes to predicting the rest of this season? Are you going to be as conservative in your analysis here as you are in your navigation of like right on reds and freeway entrances and whatnot?
Tom Orsborn: The the way to look at this is the Spurs have a really good problem. It’s learning to deal with success. And that’s a good thing. They’re they’re they’re successful and they have to learn to deal with it. You know, you’re going to have these these nights where you may be off after you’re, you know, a little gleeful over, you know, beating OKC like, like they did. But it’s it’s a good thing to have. And um, I think it’s just, yeah, it’s part of the growing growing process. I think they’re going to end up with a pretty darn good record and a pretty good seed. And uh, yeah, but there’s going to be bumps in the road.
Jeff McDonald: And they’re still ahead of schedule. Right. I don’t want to, I don’t want to act like I’m just pouring water over everything. It was just the talk after those Thunder games that they are clearly the second best team in the West now and they’re on a collision course to the conference finals with the, it’s just kind of hold on. They’ve proven they can win some regular season games. And it’s what we’ve talked about on here a lot. It just, it just doesn’t happen where you go from losing or missing the playoffs six seasons in a row to the conference finals in one fell swoop. Like it just doesn’t, it’s never happened in NBA history. So can the Spurs do that? I guess, but they would be making NBA history. Like there’s steps to complete in between there.
Mike Finger: So it’s difficult to um, condense any of this, quote unquote analysis into a, to use a journalism term since since 2025 is the golden year of journalism and newspapers, to to condense it into what what they call a nut graph, which is just the one sentence, the one paragraph that that that condenses everything into one idea. Because yes, the Spurs have proven, I I think that they can beat anybody in a playoff series. Um, the one team that that would have been the exception there a few weeks ago, I would have thought there’s no chance they could beat Oklahoma City in a playoff series. And I still think Oklahoma City would be the favorite in a series against them just because of the experience and and all the skins on the wall that that Oklahoma City has. But when you beat a team three games in a row in in in not low profile games, but big games that everybody’s paying attention to, that that means something. I I think it wouldn’t be a huge shock to see the Spurs beat anybody in a seven game series.
Mike Finger: But it would still be a shock to me to see a team just like Jeff said, that’s missed the playoffs six years in a row, that has basically five, six, seven of their most important guys who’ve never been in a playoff series. In the case of De’Aaron Fox has been in one in his entire career. To see that team win three playoff series, or to win even two playoff series, that would be huge. Um, so I, again, it’s hard to to sort of put that in in a one sentence summary of where the Spurs are. But, um, I think people people get the point. Like this is a team that’s on the right track. It can have some post season success, but to start expecting that success to extend into three, four rounds of the playoffs, I think we’re getting a little ahead of the, the the cart’s a little ahead of the course horse there.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, I’m I’m going to, I’m going to, I mean, far be it to me, for, far be it for me to tell a fan how to feel. You can feel however you want. I don’t care. But if you want my advice, if you’re a fan that thinks this is Western Conference Finals or bust, you’re going to be disappointed probably. And it’s kind of sad.
Mike Finger: Gonne clip that out. We’re going to clip that out and replay it in June.
Jeff McDonald: And it’s sad because you’re going to be disappointed in a season that otherwise was a very, would end up being a very successful season. To me, the the next step for this team has not changed. They’re going to get to the playoffs and at some point get their teeth kicked in by a team that has just been there before and knows, knows how to navigate the next step, the next level up of intensity, of preparation, what it’s like to play the same team over and over and over for seven games. That’s the next step for this team is to lose to one of those teams. Now, if the Spurs end up with a high enough seed, that that won’t, that might not happen in the first round. They they, I would not have predicted this before the season, but right now I could definitely see them ending up with a with a seed high enough where they’re playing a lesser team in the first round and beat them and then that teeth kicking in comes in the second round. I see this team a lot like maybe um, OKC was the year before their title, where they have a great regular season, they’re on top of the world. They had the first seed, I think, second seed, beat uh, beat New Orleans pretty handily in the first round. And then you get to the second round against Dallas that’s got Luka Dončić and some of those guys who have been there done that. And, you know, they can’t get past that that year. And then it sets the stage for what happens the next year when they make the run all the way to the finals. And that’s kind of maybe where I see um, kind of the path for this Spurs team this year. And to me, that’s ahead of schedule to what I would have thought um, before the season began. I think I think they’re far ahead of where I would have predicted they would have been at this point. But it still doesn’t mean I’m ready to say um, you know, they’re going to go all the way to the conference finals.
Mike Finger: Here’s where I don’t know why you keep saying conference finals. I’m talking about people, some people are saying finals. They’re they’re better than the Oklahoma City Thunder. Anyway, they beat them three times. Anyway, here’s where I’m going to step in and and and speak up for the optimistic, going crazy, we’re going all the way Spurs fans. You talk about not skipping steps and you talk about um, just the the the the way that these championship journeys unfold from franchise to franchise, from year to year, from decade to decade throughout the NBA history. Uh, part of that step is for the fans and for the people around the team to go crazy and be really excited the first year that the team is good and to have those expectations and to have them crushed in the post season. So like I don’t think he would I don’t I don’t see the need to lecture people and say, well, don’t expect the conference finals. I’m Jeff McDonald and I’ve done this for 19 years and fans should not expect this. Let let people expect it. Let people in this world in 2025 heading to 2026 be uh, optimistic and hopeful about something. And if it if it gets crushed in in the next spring and summer, that’s fine, but let them enjoy the moment. Let them let them dream on what could happen if Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox and Stefan Castle and Dylan Harper and company are all healthy going into a playoff series and and roll through one and then two and then three rounds of the playoffs. Let that’s part of building what the Spurs are building to have fans be wildly unrealistic and and and wildly hopeful. And when that gets crushed in April and May and June whenever it might be, you know, to to pick up the pieces and realize at that point that this was a step forward. But don’t lecture them about it now. Don’t be a wet blanket all the time, Jeff McDonald. Come on, man.
Tom Orsborn: I don’t see Jeff as as lecturing.
Mike Finger: I’m not talking about you, goober.
Tom Orsborn: He’s looking out for folks, you know.
Mike Finger: Exactly. Exactly. This is not a nanny state. This is not a nanny state. Have we learned anything? You can’t protect people from themselves. And and and to say, you need to be careful. Let them feel their joy, Jeff.
Jeff McDonald: Anyway, I couched the whole thing with people are free to feel however they want. Go for it.
Mike Finger: But you said it in kind of a lecturing way.
Jeff McDonald: But if you want my advice, and it’s my job to tell people what’s going to happen, you know, to prepare people for what’s going to happen. They don’t want to listen to me, that’s fine. Just like when I told everybody that Utah game was clearly a trap game. You know what I mean? Like that’s…
Mike Finger: Your first prediction in a month that come true.
Jeff McDonald: You can listen, you can listen to me or you can not, but I’m just calling them how I see them. So that’s that’s that.
Mike Finger: So you have the fans’ best interest at heart, is what you’re saying.
Jeff McDonald: I have an enormous amount of empathy for the fans of this team and I can see what’s coming.
Tom Orsborn: You know, that and that’s a concept that one of us, it’s it’s foreign to us, this concept of empathy.
Mike Finger: That is foreign to one of us.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah.
Mike Finger: Anyway, you want to talk about why um… You want to talk about why the Spurs can’t win when Victor Wembanyama’s the starter?
Jeff McDonald: That’s another hot take. Go ahead. Floor’s yours.
Mike Finger: I was just joking, but they were, it is one of the crazier, um, stats of the season that they have not won a game with Victor Wembanyama in the starting lineup, uh, since November 10th at Chicago, which seems like forever ago. And it’s a combination of he missed whatever a month, and then he came back and he came off the bench for seven or eight games. So there hasn’t been a lot of opportunities. But the last four games Victor has started, the Spurs have lost and you know, some of that…
Mike Finger: Well, the wild part of that stat is they haven’t won a game with Victor in the starting lineup since what’d you say, November the 10th? And that’s almost two months. And then, I don’t know if you have that number handy, but look at their record during that stretch.
Tom Orsborn: Right, right.
Mike Finger: It’s extreme, what, 70, they won 70% of their games since then, if not more.
Jeff McDonald: Well what we’re seeing right now is, um, he still is not cleared to play 30 minutes. So he’s starting, but can’t play 30 minutes. And it just makes everything a little wonky. Like his his stints are a little, some of them are short, some of them are spaced out. He’s having to come out, uh, at points of the game where, um, normally he would not, you know, if he were if he were able to play a full slate of minutes. And so it’s just another layer of things, it makes things a little bit, uh, trickier. And that’s, that’s why it’s harder to win with him as a starter right now. I think at some point, um, I mean, it it points to why they brought him off the bench coming off coming off that injury. I mean it was a good reason.
Mike Finger: It reinforces how smart of a plan that was in that cup game to to just limit his minutes to three quarters and and condense them into that period of time rather than space it out and make it wonky.
Jeff McDonald: Um, but you can’t bring Victor by God Wembanyama off the bench forever. Like you’ve got to find a way to work him back into the starting five. So that’s that’s what they’re on that. But it’s kind of a transition period between him coming off the bench to him starting and playing 35 minutes and so it’s going to look weird at times and it has.
Mike Finger: It puts, that the the word you just used there, I think you might have borrowed from the Big fella because he had a pretty insightful uh comment about that last night how didn’t he call this a transitionary, transitional something along those lines, phase, part of the season for the Spurs? Am I making that up, Tom?
Tom Orsborn: No, no, you’re right. You’re right. And and yeah. So what he meant by that, what he meant by that was from the the high, the the excitement of the cup and all that type of stuff, the Christmas game to games that feel a little more normal and routine and moving on to this stretch where they’re going to be challenged a bit and this is a challenge for them.
Mike Finger: Victor, as we all know, is a a voracious reader, and he he he’s breaking the season down into chapters. And this is the chapter headed transitional phase.
Tom Orsborn: Uh-huh.
Jeff McDonald: It is interest, it is interesting. That that lineup starting five they’ve used the last two nights and lost, but they’ve used it the last two nights, is the one they want to use forever if they can. And it’s played together a grand total of five times ever. Like that that group, all five at the same time, not played together, but started. That group has started five games together um, over the past two years. So they’re learning, they’re learning how to how to start games together and I, you know, I think we saw that kind of two games in a row where it was a little clunky at times.
Mike Finger: Yeah.
Tom Orsborn: You know, all the I know you guys probably covered this a ton last week, but all all the the debate about, you know, he’s coming off the bench. What is Mitch doing? What what an idiot, blah, blah, blah. It’s just, it was crazy. It’s just, you know, I just, I just don’t get it. They were protecting the guy from a more serious injury. They were winning. You know, where’s where’s the where’s the crime in that? You know, it was smart, smart thing to do.
Mike Finger: Yeah, but he’s back now. But again, to speak for the fans, because of my empathy, I I I I identify with the emotions and leanings of so many people in the world. And I you want to see the star play. And uh, you know, I get it. I’m not gonna I’m not gonna sit here in my ivory tower and lecture people like Jeff McDonald about how they should feel about things. If you want to see…
Jeff McDonald: What are you going to do in your ivory tower then?
Mike Finger: I’ll judge other people. So, yeah, no, but you’re right, Tom. The the the plan always made sense, but, you know, people want to see the stars play. I get that too. And I think that eventually, to speak up for people who wanted to see him in the starting lineup, like that that goes to what Jeff said. That lineup needs to start playing together. If that’s your lineup, that’s your go-to lineup, you need to go through those growing pains.
Tom Orsborn: And it’s a long season.
Mike Finger: If these were games, if these were games four and five of in in history of using that five-man starting lineup, like you might as well start getting games four and five out of the way now if there’s going to be some hiccups and there have been some hiccups. Also, um, a couple of things about these last two losses. The Utah Jazz are not a playoff caliber team. They are a uh, a team continuing to rebuild. They might be a playing team.
Jeff McDonald: They’re a play-in caliber team.
Mike Finger: Yeah. They’re very well coached by our friend Will Hardy. Um, but that just Jeff accurately pointed that out that that just had um, uh, trap game written all over it and that after you’ve played the month that the Spurs did, where the cup just had them buzzing and going crazy and you know, you’re you’re in Vegas for five days and then you come back from that and play two games against the reigning champs and win them both. Like there was obviously going to be a come down in that game. And it’s hard to get worked up about that loss. Like the Jazz were primed to pull that off. And Cleveland’s a good team. Cleveland, Cleveland does stuff. Cleveland makes things miserable. The Spurs want to get out and run, the Spurs want to do a lot of uh, the they want to push the tempo. And the Cleveland has the bodies and the personnel and the system to kind of just throw a wrench into everything the Spurs do and uh, Cleveland played well. And and the Spurs…
Jeff McDonald: And they needed a win. They needed a win.
Mike Finger: And Cleveland needed a win. And there were things even in the game against the Cavaliers where you look at it and say, you know, even in a loss, the Spurs are showing that they can like, Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland are two good guards and they were having a miserable time against the defenders that the Spurs have out there. Like even in a game when when the Spurs could not buy a three pointer and when their offense kind of got stuck in the mud, they were still, Stefan Castle was defending the heck out of both those guys. Dylan Harper would come off the bench and play good defense. Um, even in a game when things go wrong, the Spurs do a lot right. And I don’t want to turn this into the um, uh, bright side of everything podcast. Sunshine pumping podcast like our friends from Texas say.
Jeff McDonald: Oh, don’t worry, I’m here.
Mike Finger: Yeah, exactly. But um, these weren’t disastrous performances. Mitch kind of was Gregg Popovich-esque in his post game talking about how uh, you know, the players we we felt too much anxiety on offense and kind of made some pointed criticisms of some of the guys, the way they they weren’t emotionally ready and things like that. But these weren’t disastrous performances that make you worry if if if everything from the previous month was fool’s gold or anything like that.
Jeff McDonald: I don’t want to be too reductive, but this is kind of the way it is uh, in 2025, 2026. Like a lot of times it just comes down, did your three pointers go in or did they not go in? And this team looks a lot better when like Harrison Barnes is what do they call him, Mr. 100% and Julian Champagnie is knocking down everything that he sees and Devon Vassell’s on a heater. Like when when those things are happening, that’s when it looks like, man, this team cannot be beat. But, you know, when you have a when you have some in and outs and a couple rim out and nobody everybody seems to be off on the same night, it it it’s a struggle. I mean, the last two losses at home, the two losses at home, they shot below, below in the 20s from three point range and it’s hard to win that way. And before that, they had been above league average three-point shooter, above league average three-point shooting team. So it’s just a question of are they that team from the first whatever, 28, 29 games or are they the team from the last two?
Mike Finger: Now to quibble with that a little bit, it’s not just a matter of of a make or miss league. Like the the quality of three point shots last night against the Cavs was not near the quality of…
Jeff McDonald: Not the open catch and shoot…
Mike Finger: Am I am I wrong?
Jeff McDonald: You’re right. Yeah, you’re right. No, the…
Mike Finger: There weren’t a lot of shots last night where it’s just wide open and missed. They they were not, they, Cleveland did a heck of a job of forcing them into bad three-point shots.
Jeff McDonald: They weren’t getting those Alex Caruso in the corner misses.
Mike Finger: Like Christmas Day.
Jeff McDonald: That’s true. That’s true.
Mike Finger: Right.
Jeff McDonald: That’s true. But even the ones that were open, it was like they can’t buy one. Like there’s, you’re you know, you it’s 10 points in the in the fourth quarter and you get Harrison Barnes in the corner and that’s like his shot and it’s just rattles in and out and I think probably Cleveland goes down and hits one and instead of it being a seven point game, it’s a 13 point game and it’s just…
Mike Finger: They were they were a few, you’re right. There were a few that were open shots that they normally make that they missed, but there were also some that I don’t think were some attempts, some misses were not in their typical flow of…
Jeff McDonald: I agree. It’s like good to great.
Mike Finger: It’s like they skipped a pass.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah. Kind of.
Mike Finger: So it’s it’s, I think to reduce it just to make or miss isn’t quite telling it all. You’re right. There it’s sometimes is make or miss. Either you make the open ones or miss them, but I think that you can do a little more work. And and this might have been what, I’m sorry, what Mitch was referring to in terms of anxiety on offense.
Jeff McDonald: Absolutely was. Absolutely was.
Mike Finger: Where you’re taking shots that aren’t in the normal flow and you’re you’re attempting three pointers, you’re attempting shots, you’re making passes that you don’t normally make where you, you, you look and feel a bit anxious. So. And and I and I think that’ll be a good learning lesson for them.
Tom Orsborn: And way out of the norm, um, Keldon Johnson had an off night and that’s way out of the norm lately. Uh, he didn’t even attempt a three. Um, just shows how good he’s been and how much he’s contributed to their success.
Mike Finger: He’s been such a, um, steady influence for them for so long. It’s it’s it’s worth taking a moment every now and then to kind of appreciate, note.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah.
Mike Finger: Yeah, to we’ve done that a lot this year, but for him to turn into kind of the rock and the guy you can always count on and when you and a guy where you notice his rare bad nights as opposed to his rare good nights, that’s a that’s a pretty good deal.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah.
Mike Finger: Anything else you want to get to, Jeff?
Jeff McDonald: No. It’s the end of the year, you know.
Mike Finger: I do want to ask Tom about, uh, he he he took one for the team and and uh and and made the Christmas trip. That’s always tough to leave to leave home and be on the road and be in a hotel on Christmas. But you you covered, heck, it’s ancient history now. We didn’t do our emergency pod, whatever that is. Uh, but I I do want to give Tom the opportunity to reflect on his really just workmanlike uh uh solid teammate effort in in in making that trip after spending six days in Vegas and going to Oklahoma City for Christmas and covering that game. What what what did you think about all that?
Tom Orsborn: Everything evens out, Mike. Last year it was a good long stretch in New York City during Christmas. You know? Can’t beat that. And Oklahoma City’s not a bad place. Um, you know, I’ve I’ve I’ve had a number of Christmases on the road, Christmas Eves on the road, and it it wasn’t bad. I had a good, good good nice uh, good nice meal. And uh, met some nice people. And yeah, so. Well, I’ve also, I’ve I’ve wondered, I think this is a question that a lot of listeners and readers have.
Mike Finger: Like the the logistics of letting Santa know where you are. And the Marriott policy, because I’ve had trouble having having like a Uber Eats or or or meals delivered. Some Marriotts, they don’t let them on the elevators. You have to go down to the lobby and pick up the whatever you’re having to live pizzas delivered to Marriott. I’m wondering what what’s the Santa situation when you’re there on Christmas?
Tom Orsborn: Well, you know, Santa’s, he’s resourceful. He can find you. You know, especially when you’ve been good, something you wouldn’t know anything about, you know? That’s, that’s why he doesn’t find you.
Mike Finger: I see. Does he have lounge access?
Tom Orsborn: Yes, yes, yes. He holds court in the lounge, Mike.
Mike Finger: Wow. And he was good to you this year?
Tom Orsborn: Yes, yes he was. I I I appreciate, appreciate Santa. He was very nice. But no, I ate at a very nice restaurant, Melfi, an Italian place in uh…
Mike Finger: Is it like Jennifer Melfi?
Tom Orsborn: Oklahoma City. Yes, I you you uh, read my mind. That’s exactly right. Melfi. And uh, yeah, had a had a good meal. Met some nice folks there. Yeah, so it was all good. Uh, like I said, I’ve been on the, I’ve been on the road a lot. Uh, I’ve been doing this for a long time, Mike Finger. Much like, I’ve been on the road a lot, uh, during Christmas and this wasn’t the worst, worst Christmas.
Mike Finger: I’m glad to hear that.
Jeff McDonald: I gotta tell you, I spent about an hour and a half with my kids Christmas morning and I was like, God, I wish I was in Oklahoma City.
Tom Orsborn: Well, I watched uh, I I’m a big, It’s a Wonderful Life fan. I know, I know I’m, I I’m kind of sentimental, but, you know, watching that brought some much needed perspective and uh, that was a good, that was a good good thing to do.
Mike Finger: I think of, think of, think of how things would be different if Tom never had been born. You know, that that alternate universe where uh…
Tom Orsborn: That’s right.
Mike Finger: Call it Pottersville instead of uh…
Tom Orsborn: Yeah. I I had to laugh. I had to laugh, Mike. There’s a line in It’s a Wonderful Life that you would appreciate. Um, George Bailey played by the great Jimmy Stewart looks at Mr. Potter and says, “What’s your point, Mr. Potter?”
Mike Finger: That’s a question that Tom Orsborn has asked the host of this podcast oh so many times over the past 20, 25 years. What is your point?
Tom Orsborn: Michael Michael respond, here’s the deal.
Mike Finger: We’re losing the listeners, but it makes me it makes me laugh. Uh, we have a week ahead to get into before we depart. I know Jeff has an appointment here coming up. Uh, the uh, the New York Knickerbockers. The the the it’s a revenge game from the the cup game that did not count in the standings. The cup championship game where the Knickerbockers pulled away in Las Vegas and and lifted, hoisted the Emirates NBA Cup. The Spurs get a chance at payback on New Year’s Eve at the Frost Bank Center. There’s a trip to Indiana that I believe Jeff McDonald will be taking on Friday. Home game against the Portland Trail Blazers. Old friend Thiago Splitter is coaching the Trail Blazers, former Spur. That should be fun. That’s three games. Uh, Jeff McDonald, his his rate this year, his record this year is not a positive one in terms of predictions, but I’m going to give him a chance at looking at these three games and then Tom can follow that.
Jeff McDonald: By the way, before I get to that, do you realize the Spurs open 2026 with three straight back to backs?
Mike Finger: I did not realize that.
Jeff McDonald: That doesn’t seem fair. Anyway, um, I’m going to give them two and one on those three games that you mentioned. I I I don’t know about the the Knicks game on on uh uh New Year’s Eve. Maybe there’s a bounce back since the Spurs have lost two in a row. But I I feel good about two and one. I think Indiana’s, Indiana’s not a, not a good team. Uh, the the team that went to game seven of the finals last year, not a good team. Um, so that’s one I think the Spurs can get. And and Portland’s doesn’t have a great record, is playing better. That’s the second night of a back-to-back coming back from Indiana. That could be a little tricky. But I’ll give…
Mike Finger: Which is often like a road game.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, I’ll give him two of three in there somewhere though. Either they beat the Knicks and lose to the Blazers or they lose to the Knicks and beat the Blazers somewhere in there.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah, two and one. Um, the Knicks, uh, the, you know, they, they got a pretty good book on them after the Cup game. Got to be much more physical. Get on the boards. They got pounded on the boards in Vegas. Um, so I think they’re going to, I think they’re going to get off the mat here and uh, beat the Knicks, beat beat the uh, the Hoosiers up in Indiana.
Mike Finger: I think they’re called the Pacers, Tom.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah, yeah, well.
Mike Finger: Okay. I think, what what do we call Cajers, right? Uh.
Tom Orsborn: So…
Mike Finger: I think anyone from Indiana is a Hoosier. I’m just I’m just stemming the tide uh uh nipping in the bud the the letters that we were going to receive. People often like to correct us on our mistakes. Tom is not actually wrong there because anyone from Indiana is called a Hoosier. So you could be a Hoosier and a Pacer at the same time. Go ahead.
Tom Orsborn: No, we’re going to be flooded with uh complaints about that. But…
Mike Finger: We had, we I I think I mentioned to this to you before, but we have legitimately been flooded with inquiries about why isn’t Tom Orsborn on the podcast more. People miss you. So we’re glad you’re back. Last week was a a travel uh uh disaster, right?
Tom Orsborn: Snafu, snafu, yeah. Yeah.
Mike Finger: But, as I told you last night, this is the risk you run when you book yourself… Tom loves to be on the road. He tries to maximize every road trip and he always books himself on the last flight out of town. And when you make that gamble Tom, sometimes, you know, it bites you in the butt, like it did when you were trying to get out of the district last week.
Tom Orsborn: I like to, I like to ride in the secure location that has Wi-Fi, uh, which you cannot find on some certain airlines, so…
Mike Finger: Right. I know it makes sense. Yeah. But in this case, you booked yourself on the last flight out of the District of Columbia and that flight was delayed, which meant you missed your connection and you got to spend a night where, Tom?
Tom Orsborn: Mhm. Houston.
Mike Finger: Houston.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah.
Mike Finger: So, anyway, that’s why he missed the podcast last week. But Tom’s going to be a regular in 2026 because the fans love him. Uh, Jeff is going to be a regular in 2026 because the fans can’t get everything they want. And I’ll be back too. And until we see you next time. Happy New Year. Take care of each other and keep it real.
Tom Orsborn: It’s a wonderful life.
[music fades in]